560: Stakeout

"Ugh, ahhh!"

The three old devils couldn't even let out screams. Their bodies were like candles lit ablaze,

their skin and flesh began to char, carbonize, and peel off inch by inch!

The light points of the crumbling Demonic Nascent Soul flickered wildly at the edge of incineration!

If they didn't speak now, their fate would be complete annihilation, their Nascent Souls utterly burned to nothingness!

"Reinforcements... Lord! There are reinforcements!"

A bald, one-eyed Devil Head on the left, in the agonizing torment of his burning Divine Soul, squeezed out his last sliver of consciousness and shrieked hoarsely:

"The stronghold was set up by Young Lord Heavenly Cherry... but after we set up the Formation, we received another secret talisman... We only know that... a high-ranking member of the Heavenly Demon Sect will arrive! Specifically... specifically who... this lowly one truly doesn't... Ah—!!!"

Before he could finish speaking, a fierce glint flashed in Yao Delong's eyes!

Buzz!

That speck of Essence Fire completely unleashed its final purifying light!

Pfft! Sizzle!!

The three old devils, who had previously dominated a region at Nascent Soul Perfection,

along with their fragile Nascent Soul Origin, instantly erupted with dazzling golden-red light!

Their Physical Bodies directly turned into a small wisp of smoke-wreathed ashes, scattered on the cold rock surface!

Even the imprints of their Divine Souls were incinerated!

But Yao Delong did not let this pure Soul energy completely dissipate!

Almost simultaneously, he spread the five fingers of his left hand, and a small triangular banner—the soul devouring banner—black all over, covered with twisted, tormented Soul faces in relief,

exuding endless resentment and terrifying Soul-capturing fluctuations, whistled out from his storage ring!

The banner surface moved without wind, emitting a shrill wail like ten thousand ghosts crying in unison!

Swish!

Three translucent Nascent Soul phantom fragments, filled with venomous malice and essence of pain, on the verge of completely disintegrating into nothingness under the Blazing True Fire,

were forcefully yanked out from the ashes by an irresistible, immense suction, as if they had seen the light at the exit of an bottomless abyss!

With their final twisted, ferocious, silent roars, they were forcibly stretched and sucked into the banner surface covered with tormented Soul faces!

Becoming new nourishment for this Demonic Path Heaven-Grade Weapon!!

"soul devouring banner?!"

Luo Tianying, sprawled on the ground, her pupils suddenly contracted into a desperate black dot! She recognized this item!

This was a top-grade Demonic Path Heaven-Grade Weapon within the Heavenly Demon Sect that only a few core Soul Transformation Cultivators could master and refine!

The refining process was utterly inhumane! Each banner required the sacrifice of one hundred thousand living Souls to even take rudimentary form!

This kid... how could he, a Righteous Path Cultivator, possess such a sinister Demonic Artifact?! And use it so proficiently?!

Yao Delong expressionlessly put away the humming, trembling soul devouring banner, its surface now bearing a few more struggling faces.

He didn't even glance at Luo Tianying's shocked, distorted gaze on the ground. Righteous and evil?

Magical Artifacts are ultimately tools; the key lies in the heart of the person using them.

Using this banner to collect the remnant Souls of evil demons, fighting evil with evil, how is that not a Righteous Path?

"Reinforcements? High-ranking Heavenly Demon Sect members?"

Yao Delong narrowed his eyes, catching the last piece of intelligence from the one-eyed old devil before his death,

a cold, calculating arc forming at the corner of his mouth.

Although he didn't know exactly who it was, and they still needed to arrive... the identity of the newcomer was absolutely extraordinary!

Good!

You're exactly who I'm waiting for!

"Qiong Shuang, Luo Yan!" Yao Delong barked, without the slightest hesitation, "Retreat!"

Before his voice faded, he stepped beside Luo Tianying. With a sweep of his right sleeve,

a gentle yet irresistible force instantly enveloped Luo Tianying's weak and disheveled delicate body, holding her at his side like an object!

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Yao Delong's hands moved rapidly through the Void Realm like dancing butterflies!

Dao after Dao of profound, incomparably mysterious Void Realm runes, imbued with spatial folds and resonating with the Qi of heaven and earth, were struck out!

"Four Symbols Concealment! Eight Desolations Return to Nothingness! Fix!"

Several incomparably powerful Formation Restrictions, designed to conceal aura, block Divine Thought probes, and even distort spatial fluctuations, instantly took shape,

enveloping this area of the cliff top like an invisible barrier!

"Big Brother..."

Qiong Shuang, who had just transformed into human form, her fiery figure barely concealed by her tight green attire, and a hint of unfulfilled combat still on her face,

looked at Yao Delong's actions of rapidly setting up layers of Restrictions as if facing a formidable enemy, her ice-blue eyes full of confusion,

"The fight's over, why are we hiding now?"

Luo Yan also hurried back from the side, her beautiful face likewise filled with bewilderment.

She also felt an invisible, solemn pressure spreading.

Yao Delong didn't explain, only quickly scanned the deployed Formations, and after confirming their correctness, said in a deep voice:

"Silence! Conceal all auras! A 'big fish'... is coming!"

He held the weakened Luo Tianying, and with Qiong Shuang and Luo Yan, his figure instantly transformed into a distorted, blurred phantom,

sinking into the deep shadow cast by a huge, dark, grotesque rock behind them. The light of the Formation completely disappeared.

Qiong Shuang and Luo Yan also instantly fell silent, quickly obeying, fully converging their own aura fluctuations, and hiding behind the grotesque rock.

Qiong Shuang didn't forget to lick her lips, her eyes no longer confused, but instead filled with eager excitement!

Big fish? Could it be more fun than these three half-dead Nascent Souls?!

Luo Tianying was clamped in Yao Delong's arm like an iron vice. She weakly raised her head,

wanting to see Yao Delong's expression, but her vision was obscured by the shadow.

But she could clearly feel the cold killing intent accumulating on Yao Delong's body!

This guy! Knowing there were reinforcements, he's using this place as bait, waiting for that 'big fish' that's about to arrive!

But the chill and dread in her heart instantly overshadowed her humiliation!

Was Yao Delong guessing it was Mad Extremity Demonic Lord? Or... was her father, Mad Extreme Demon Lord, coming personally?!

A biting coldness surged from her pierced limbs and bones to the core of Luo Tianying's heart.

Pinned to the cold rock by the burning Great Sun Divine Chain, every ounce of her strength was evaporated and locked by the golden-red Divine Fire, even breathing became a luxury. She could only use the corner of her eye to stare intently at Yao Delong, hidden deep in the shadow cast by the huge grotesque rock.

Madman!

A madman who had completely lost his mind!

Her father, Mad Extremity Demonic Lord, was a peerless Arch-Demon at the Late Void Refining Stage!

In the vast Demonic Path forces of the Eastern Domain, he was someone who could stomp his foot and cause a storm of blood, someone who could directly contend with the Sect Masters of first-rate major sects!

Yao Delong was merely at the Late Stage Soul Transformation... No, even if his combat power was Heaven-Defying, it was already incredible if he could contend with an Early Stage Void Refining Cultivator!

How dare he?!

How dare he stay and attempt to assassinate?!

What made Luo Tianying even more terrified was that the one about to arrive was not her father! It was Saintess Xin Yuelan!

Last time in the depths of the profound fire ancient mirror, Xin Yuelan, with just one servant—a terrifying existence called 'A'Da' by the Saintess, whose aura was peculiar—

had managed to rescue the severely wounded Hundred Refinements Demonic Lord from the furious pursuit of Lei Zhenzi, the renowned Peak Master of the Yin Yang Sect, who wielded the Nirvana Thunder Dao!

That Divine Ability that froze Void Realm passages with a mere gesture... that power,

in Luo Tianying's view, had absolutely reached the Peak of the Void Refining Realm!

Yao Delong actually dared to covet such an existence?!

Was he utterly audacious... or... did he have something to rely on?!

But no matter which it was, it filled her with despair! Once the Saintess arrived... "Buzz—!"

Just as Luo Tianying's mind was in extreme turmoil, humiliation and fear growing wildly like poisonous vines entwining deep within her Divine Soul!

The previously clear sky above suddenly ripped open a hideous Void Realm scar!